Artist Spotlight: Pete Gum & Reliable Colin

        One of the main goals of starting Dance More Laugh More was to make a blog for upcoming independent musicians. It's so hard to get people to listen to music, and even harder to get your music in the hands of blogs. Instead of actively looking for music, blogs now have paid submission forms. Even if you pay them this doesn't guarantee any feedback or that they'll even review your music (I fell down this rabbit hole before). Anytime I see new music in any of my social media feeds I'll give it a listen or blindly buy it.

I :”discovered” the Los Angeles based duo Pete Gum and Reliable Colin on my Instagram feed. The bright pink cover art of their EP Thinkers Vol.1 and nonchalant poses caught my eye. The song preview they posted sounded like something I would bump so I went ahead and bought their EP. Yet again, this was a good decision. I should also note that these guys just GAVE me their EP for free for commenting and liking the snippet they posted (I already had bought it off iTunes though).

        The song that I heard in their preview was “Classic”, which is the first song on their EP. “Classic” starts off with a classic four on the floor house beat with disco sounding drums. The repeated funky guitar line and the synth leads used in the second half give it a nice 80s feel. The fat bass synth in their third song “Just Imagine” keeps the track in motion. I wasn't feeling this song at first, but after giving it a listen I liked it. The subtle piano chords played along with the bass creates a “vibe” (you be the judge of what “vibe” that is). By the way, I listed these songs out of order for a reason.

        The second song “Expand” on their EP really puts into perspective why their EP is called Thinkers Vol.1. Each song on this EP has vocal samples, but the samples in “Expand” sound like something you would hear in a documentary about drugs (LSD) in the 70s. This song has some DEEP house vibes. The bouncy bass and huge tom smashing in the background is what would make the dance floor go bananas. “Expand” has that darker deep sound like the record label Anjunadeep, so this immediately made my favorite playlist. Pete Gum and Reliable Colin's EP Thinkers Vol.1 is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other streaming platforms. Stream it, buy it, and put it on repeat.